The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 639
Fierce lightnings leap from the heavens, enveloping the earth in a sheet
of flame. Above the terrific roar of thunder, voices, mysterious and
awful, declare the doom of the wicked. The words spoken are not
comprehended by all; but they are distinctly understood by the false
teachers. Those who a little before were so reckless, so boastful and
defiant, so exultant in their cruelty to God’s commandment-keeping
people, are now overwhelmed with consternation and shuddering in
fear. Their wails are heard above the sound of the elements. Demons
acknowledge the deity of Christ and tremble before His power, while
men are supplicating for mercy and groveling in abject terror.
Said the prophets of old, as they beheld in holy vision the day of
God: “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as
a destruction from the Almighty.” Isaiah 13:6. “Enter into the rock,
and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His
majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness
of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that
day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud
and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up; and he shall be brought
low.” “In that day a man shall cast the idols of his silver, and the idols of
his gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles
and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the
ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when
He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” Isaiah 2:10-12, 20, 21, margin.
Through a rift in the clouds there beams a star whose brilliancy is
increased fourfold in contrast with the darkness. It speaks hope and joy
to the faithful, but severity and wrath to the transgressors of God’s law.
Those who have sacrificed all for Christ are now secure, hidden as in
the secret of the Lord’s pavilion. They have been tested, and before the
world and the despisers of truth they have evinced their fidelity to Him
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